Memorise: Abstain from all appearance of evil. 1st Thessalonians
5:22
Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
2 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and
speaketh the truth in his heart. 3 He that backbiteth not with
his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against
his neighbour. 4 In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but
he honoureth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt,
and changeth not. 5 He that putteth not out his money to usury,
nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never
be moved.
‘Looking unto Jesus’ are there very important words of salvation,
encouragement and direction for daily Christian living. Nicodemus, in his
search for the true God and eternal life, approached Jesus for possible
understanding. The Lord Jesus made the new birth very plain by using an Old
Testament illustration of the fiery serpents of brass put on a pole for the
Israelite's to look upon as recorded in the book of Numbers 21:8-9.
The fall of Adam and Eve, and the temptation of Jesus Christ, exposes
humanity to two important realities among many others. First of all, the devil
is out to destroy all human beings without exception. Secondly, the devil
cannot do a perfect Job at destroying a person without the consensual agreement
of that individual. Consequently, the devil seeks the permission of an
individual to have the access required to destroy his life. That is why the
Bible in Ephesians 4:27, admonishes us not to give way to the devil.
Moreover, the devil does not make this request directly; neither does he
require a clear answer from anyone. The language of the devil is always implied
and shrouded in ambiguity, such that no one is ever fully aware of the implications
of any transaction with the devil until reality dawns on them. For these
reasons, children of God should be mindful of their responses to any proposal
by the devil because ordinary interest is usually taken as consent or approval
by the devil. Men and women who showed interest in various proposals of the
devil in the past were soon captured and enslaved to the point of being
addicted to such harmful practices like alcoholism, gambling, illicit sex, hard
drugs, prostitution, etc. For these reasons, the Bible outlines several ways in
which believers should respond to the devil. Evil is to be avoided at all cost
as indicated in Psalms 1:1:
“Blessed
is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the
way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful”
And in Proverbs 4:14:
“Enter
not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil me.”
And 1st Thessalonians 5:22 says: “Abstain
from all appearance of evil.”
Evil is to be hated with passion and resisted with everything we have in
line with Proverbs 1:10:
“My son,
if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.” And James 4:7,
“Submit
yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Above all, children of God should pray every day in response to evil, Matthew
6:13 says,
“And
lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”
I pray that you will not be a victim of evil in Jesus’ name.
Prayer
Point: Father, please keep evil far away from me and my entire family in Jesus
name.
Bible in one year: Jeremiah 10-12, Psalms 46
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